The Intel UHD Graphics 617 (GT2) is a low-end integrated graphics unit, which can be found in the Y-series of the Amber-Lake generation. This "GT2" version offers 24 Execution Units (EUs) clocked at up to 1050 MHz (depending on the CPU model). Due to its lack of dedicated graphics memory or eDRAM cache, the UHD 617 has to access the main memory (2x 64bit DDR3L/LPDDR3). Compared to the old HD Graphics 615 in Kaby-Lake-Y CPUs, the UHD 617 is the same GPU with slightly different clock speeds (depending on the model) and slight power/performance improvements due to the improved 14nm++ process. Compared to the similar UHD Graphics 615 in other Amber Lake models, the 617 looks to be higher clocked (+50 MHz) and has more headroom due to the higher TDP of 7 versus 5 Watt.
Performance
The 3D performance of the UHD 617 depends on the CPU model and the cooling / TDP-setting of the laptop. Furthermore, the used main memory (single channel, DDR3(L), amount) is influencing performance. On average the UHD graphics 617 should be very similar to the Kaby-Lake HD Graphics 615 due to the same architecture and similar speeds. That means that only low demanding games like Farming Simulator 17 or Rocket League are playable in lowest detail settings.
Features
The revised video engine in the HD 615 and UHD 615 / 617 now supports H.265/HEVC Main10 profile in hardware with 10 bit colors. Furthermore, Googles VP9 codec can also be hardware decoded. The UHD 617 should support HDCP 2.2 and therefore Netflix 4K. HDMI 2.0 however is still only supported with an external converter chip (LSPCon).
Power Consumption
The UHD Graphics 617 can be found in Y processors with 7 W TDP and is therefore suited for very thin, mostly passively cooled subnotebooks like the MacBook Air 2018.
The AMD Radeon HD 8280 is an integrated DirectX 11.1 graphics card typically paired with AMD Kabini-class APUs (for example, E2-3000). It offers 128 shader cores and two Compute Units based on the GCN architecture and is clocked at 450 MHz with no support for Turbo. The graphics card does not have dedicated VRAM and will access the main memory of the system (up to single-channel DDR3L-1600).
The HD 8280 integrates both UVD 4.2 and VCE 2.0 video encoders. It supports up to two external monitors via VGA, DVI, HDMI 1.4a and DisplayPort 1.2.
Depending on the benchmark, the performance of the Radeon HD 8280 is slightly below the Intel HD Graphics (Haswell). This is on par with a dedicated Radeon HD 7370M, but is still too slow for most demanding games as of 2013. However, some older and less demanding games should run fluently if the performance of the CPU is sufficient.
Average Benchmarks Intel UHD Graphics 617 → 100%n=8
Average Benchmarks AMD Radeon HD 8280 → 42%n=8
- Range of benchmark values for this graphics card - Average benchmark values for this graphics card * Smaller numbers mean a higher performance 1 This benchmark is not used for the average calculation
Game Benchmarks
The following benchmarks stem from our benchmarks of review laptops. The performance depends on the used graphics memory, clock rate, processor, system settings, drivers, and operating systems. So the results don't have to be representative for all laptops with this GPU. For detailed information on the benchmark results, click on the fps number.